1st attempt at a full custom mask in blender

Hello again.
I've been working on this mask in blender and if anyone could offer any advice it would be much appreciated.
Particularly the mouth is proving difficult to get right, it's supposed to have a casual smile, a bit like Chocolate Array on deviantart, but it's hard to make in a way that looks... natural?
The Gailblue mask is on hold at the moment until I get a hadatai to colour match the paint, but if all goes well both threads will be updated with progress shots soon.

Can't really specify anything in particular since I use 3DS max and am not known for being very artistic in the first place but Imo the sides of the mouth curve too sharply upwards. Perhaps increasing the width of the lips or decreasing how high the lips curl slightly might make it look more natural. The mouth also seems to protrude more than seems natural but then again that might just be me imagining things.

It's only available for educational-establishment use sadly. Hobbyists doesn't come under that scope and get very little care from companies anyway.

That's not true, Fusion is free for hobbyists and "startups" (businesses with under 100k? profit). The option should be under the buy button on the activation screen.

Also, none of the CAD programs Hikari mentioned are really comparable to Blender - You use CAD software for engineering projects and mechanical gizmos, while you use 3D modelling software (like Blender) to make things like game assets, CGI effects, and kigu masks. Blender is pretty much the best bet as far as free modelling software goes, although the interface does take a bit of getting used to.

That's not true, Fusion is free for hobbyists and "startups" (businesses with under 100k? profit). The option should be under the buy button on the activation screen.

Also, none of the CAD programs Hikari mentioned are really comparable to Blender - You use CAD software for engineering projects and mechanical gizmos, while you use 3D modelling software (like Blender) to make things like game assets, CGI effects, and kigu masks. Blender is pretty much the best bet as far as free modelling software goes, although the interface does take a bit of getting used to.

I appreciate the knowledge, but such software has experienced serious over-development and over-innovation. I'd appreciate you'd take into account that someone like me has little-to-no 3D modelling skills let alone understanding of the terminology surrounding it.

I have tried blender but there are far, far too many controls, some poorly labelled.

I think the Linux sector are also having this issue. Even Linus Torvalds wanted Linux to be a super-simple modular framework, but those taking over his work have taken things way off what he wanted.

@Hikari Kintsugi has offered to try and make a 3D model of my BritKig logo, as a hand-stretching excercise I suppose...

Sorry about the late update, after playing around with the design for a while I decided the only way I could be sure it would work was to print it full size. I've still got a lot of work to do before it's complete but it's taking shape. I think the cheeks need to be extended down a bit more to cover more of the wearer's head and stop the chin to nose area being so thin and pointy, and the ears need more work. My head fits through the neck hole though so that's a success, although I'd like to make a clamshell design too eventually.

Getting gradually closer to completion... This is my 1st attempt at adding hair to a mask, so I used a long wig and an extra weft of hair folded over in 3 or 4 layers (if anyone is interested, this is Rich Dark Brown from coscraft). There's a band of plastazote foam underneath where the weft attaches to the back of the head, to add some volume to it. I'm hesitant to start on the cutting and styling but it needs some work just to blend the 2 layers together. The plan I have for this is a Noriko Takaya style (from Gunbuster).

Along with the hair, I was going to use speaker mesh coated in white primer for the eyes, and thin black EVA foam for the other details.

So close... I'm aiming to finish this by next weekend, but for now the black EVA foam is temporary. After some experimenting with different mesh panels for the eyes, the best I've found so far is 0.5mm hole, 1.09mm pitch, perforated steel. The holes are harder to spot than any other panels I tried, but vision isn't reduced much except for very dark areas. The effect might work better if used for the pupils. I'll be printing some vinyl stickers soon so that's something to test.